Noting that the Marklin iPhone/iPod_Touch MS_App uses a Stop/Go Status (function/indication) arrangement which would NOT be my preference I wondered what others considered their optimum.

For me the Ergonomics of Colour should indicate the "Current Status" thus Green means Good/Go and Red means Bad/Stop. Another school of thought is for the Colour of a button to indicate what happens when you press it.

Related to this is/are the icon/words on the button do they indicate the state or the function.

This may be a mute point if two buttons indicate/perform two separate function (e.g. stop and go) specifically, however when a single button is used to toggle from one state to the other - some system of understanding must evolve.

Note: Historically - the 6021 had two buttons with a Red LED (because they were cheap) ON when power was on and OFF when Power was off - 60212 CS1 had two buttons with two (coloured red and green) lights (inside each button) thus indicating state by both position and colour- 60213/4/5 CS2 and MS2 have a single button with a Red Lit indicator to mean Stop and a "non lit" indicator to mean go.- The MS1 is similar to the CS2/MS2 (Single button - no display=Good) except that instead of a RED Lit indicator for stop you see the word STOP.

The two buttons of the MS1 (60212) are in my opinion, clear and indicative.

The colored light shows the status - STOP is coloured red when system is OFF, and GO is coloured green when system is ON. When either one is lit, pressing the other will change status. This method is called anunciation (announcing a state), and was typical in analogue instrument panels in industry, in days gone by.

With a single-button solution, if two players see a forthcoming crash and both press STOP, the first will turn the power off - and the other will turn it on again ...

Same can happen in a single-player environment with a derailed train: player hears/sees the derailed train and presses STOP - if the shortcut detection was faster and switched off, player switches on again.

Regards Tom --- "In all of the gauges, we particularly emphasize a high level of quality, the best possible fidelity to the prototype, and absolute precision. You will see that in all of our products." (from Märklin New Items Brochure 2015, page 1) ROFLBTCUTS

What if the "Post" button in the forum editor would say "Not Posted" instead - would you immediately think that's the one to press to post a message?

I think this particular analogy does not apply, as there is no "unpost" action, while "stop" could be viewed as "un-go" [no toggle versus toggle button difference].

On the MS2, I had no problem with the STOP thing that lights up in the STOP state, but I can imagine that a virtual toggle button that changes its colour and display text should display the state that will be activated when it is pressed.

For anything on screen, I would think the simplest would be a button that is green and says GO in the stop state and vice versa. The problem with the semisimultaneous button presses that cancel each other might be solvable by setting a limit to the time between a stop and a go (it seems unlikely that the user would wish to stop, then go, within even several seconds?).

I would go for the MS2 version with a physical button, and for option 5 with a virtual button.Jeroen

I have run into this UI design problem myself. Since different users have different expectations I believe one needs to always show status and have the toggle gesture as optional. Of course with a regular checkbox, this is solved because the check or X indicates status and there is no presented result of using the control. i.e. one can see an X and know it is set, we have learned that clicking it toggles the status, there is no UI presentation while it is checked to indicate the direction it will move when actuated.

When we have two colors such as red/green the issue is no so obvious. Since the status needs to be shown and needs very little space I think it is very easy to show a little status light in addition to having the user control that will toggle the state. The user control can then dynamically adapt itself to indicate what it will do such as changing color and also any text present.

When I designed the UI for my mobile controller, I opted for green and gray for power on and off, orange and gray for halt mode on and off. Different states of them can be seen at http://layout.mixmox.com...tPC_remote_train_controlSo status is dominant in my case. I did not feel I needed to make any UI dynamic gesture that varied with the status.

For the two button scenario (Separate Go and Stop) how would you best like indicated the possibility of more than 2 states.

Aside from the obvious - Stop- GoQualified status might be available (e.g. programatically the CS1 can differentiate a Stop from the button vs a Stop from a short)- Stop - from short- Stop - from "other user"And further qualified- Stop - from short indicating WHICH booster domain- Stop - from user WITCH a User/Throttle : ID of some kind

Would you still have a "CS1 like" implementation with a light associated with each button (maybe adding a "blinking red" to indicate a short") or would you revert to bland buttons and a single indicator for status. The indicator could be a multicolour LED (RED,Green,ORANGE) or a display with text capabilities (Thus allowing Booster ID)

Can I have one that indicates when a cup of coffee is being brewed for me?

Well for me, the audible indication of a short is best, that way it doesn't matter where in the room I am. And the others aren't really necessary IMHO, apart from maybe an indication of which booster domain the short occurs in.

For the two button scenario (Separate Go and Stop) how would you best like indicated the possibility of more than 2 states.

Aside from the obvious - Stop- GoQualified status might be available (e.g. programatically the CS1 can differentiate a Stop from the button vs a Stop from a short)- Stop - from short- Stop - from "other user"And further qualified- Stop - from short indicating WHICH booster domain- Stop - from user WITCH a User/Throttle : ID of some kind

Would you still have a "CS1 like" implementation with a light associated with each button (maybe adding a "blinking red" to indicate a short") or would you revert to bland buttons and a single indicator for status. The indicator could be a multicolour LED (RED,Green,ORANGE) or a display with text capabilities (Thus allowing Booster ID)

Peter,

Taking your scenario. With a home layout with say main lines running outer, with a controller, and a shunting area, separated with a booster and a another controller. Moving on to a large layout with multiple controllers say in club setting or a show.

I would go with your "further qualified" It would be very advantageous to see which booster section "shorted" or who amongst multiple controllers called emergency stop.

I would go with the CS1 and the blinking button certainly for a CS / booster short or emergency stop.

since the error conditions for a stop condition can be numerous, what I do is throw a line into the log screen that reports what the error condition was, and if it is anything serious, a buzzer sounds too. Items in the log screen that relate to some editable object (such as a train or a loco or a track) can be double clicked an that action will take you directly to that object.

since the error conditions for a stop condition can be numerous, what I do is throw a line into the log screen that reports what the error condition was, and if it is anything serious, a buzzer sounds too. Items in the log screen that relate to some editable object (such as a train or a loco or a track) can be double clicked an that action will take you directly to that object.

I did vote for 1 Butt-1 Light:On=Go/Off=StopSince it has to do about permanent button in function,by shut off layout or turn on again on the same button.In this way it´s more safety by handle in situation.

This is because the stop button has changed into an OK button. It works exactly the same way it always has, but now the color and state of the button reflects the actual state of the layout. Red for off, yellow for a short circuit or for other events and green for OK.

Yes ... I know ... I have always said ESU was wrong about their color scheme and I decided to go against the stream with a big red stop button, but now I have changed my mind. When everything else in TouchCab reflects real-time status of the command station, so should this button.

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